Bernard M. Sherman, 85, salesman, musician

Bernard M. Sherman, a retired insurance salesman and professional musician, died of heart failure Tuesday at Union Memorial Hospital. He was 85.

Mr. Sherman was born in Baltimore, the son of immigrant parents from Kiev, Ukraine, and raised on Eden Street in Little Italy. His father later manufactured and sold Sherman's Coddies.

He learned to play the cello in his youth, and after graduating from City College in 1937 studied at the Peabody Conservatory.

After serving in the Army during World War II as a military policeman, he returned to Baltimore and performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in the late 1940s.

A member of the Musicians Association of Metropolitan Baltimore, Mr. Sherman played with various theater orchestras in the city and backed up visiting popular rock musicians during performances in Baltimore.

"He loved playing with string quartets and especially the music of Brahms. He continued playing until 2001 when his health began to fail," said his son, Jay P. Sherman of Federal Hill.

From the 1940s until the 1960s, Mr. Sherman was a partner in the family-owned Sherman's Food Market at Streeper Street and Fairmount Avenue in East Baltimore. He later worked for United Insurance Co. until retiring in the 1970s.

Mr. Sherman was a coin collector and Orioles fan.

In 1946, he married Miriam Zafren, who died in 1950. His second marriage to the former Minna Kurland ended in divorce.

Services were yesterday.

In addition to his son, Mr. Sherman is survived by a brother, Louis Sherman of Randallstown, and a sister, Ceil Randall of Pikesville. His daughter, Cindy Sherman, died in 1974.